How should you checking your email? POP3 vs IMAP

How are you checking your email? POP3 vs IMAP

When checking e-mail, your e-mail client will give you two methods or protocols for syncing mail from the server: POP3 or IMAP. Each has their own pros and cons. Here is an overview of the two methods:

POP3

With POP3 (Post Office Protocol) this would be the same as simply going into the post office, removing everything in your post office box and taking it home with you. You retain the physical copies of all of your mail that has been sent to you, and the post office (server) doesn’t have to deal with them further.

IMAP

With IMAP (Internet Mail Access Protocol) instead of simply taking everything out of your box and home with you every time. You instead grab a copy of each message, and the original stays in the post office box (server). This is convenient if you have multiple devices such as a desktop, laptop, smartphone, and tablet all trying to check mail from the same account.

Which protocol should you use?

The choice of email protocol is up to you – if you have a single device, then POP3 is probably the best choice. However, if you have multiple devices, such as a PC or Mac at work, one at home, a smart phone and/or a tablet, then IMAP might be a better option.

Things to remember:

If you use POP3, then the email is downloaded and removed from the server. Make sure you backup your email using a backup program on the machine which downloads the email.

If you use IMAP, then you will probably need to ARCHIVE email from the server to a local folder after some time – we have an article which explains how to archive IMAP email.